Fascist political party in the United States
The
American Nazi Party
(
ANP
) is an American
far-right
and
neo-Nazi
political party
founded by
George Lincoln Rockwell
and headquartered in
Arlington, Virginia
. The organization was originally named the
World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists
(
WUFENS
), a name to denote opposition to state ownership of property, the same year?it was renamed the American Nazi Party in order to attract 'maximum media attention'.
[1]
Since the late 1960s, a number of small groups have used the name "American Nazi Party" with most being independent of each other and disbanding before the 21st century. The party is based largely upon the ideals and policies of
Adolf Hitler
's
Nazi Party
in Germany during the
Nazi era
, and embraced its uniforms and
iconography
.
[7]
[A]
Shortly after Rockwell's murder in 1967, the organization appointed Rockwell's second in command, Deputy Commander
Matt Koehl
as the new leader. The American Nazi Party, now under Koehl's command, was subject to ideological disagreements between members in the 1970s and 1980s. "In 1982, Martin Kerr, a leader at the Franklin Road headquarters, announced that the organization was changing its name to the New Order and moving to the Midwest", effective January 1, 1983.
[10]
Due to recruitment issues along with financial and legal trouble, Koehl was forced to relocate the group's headquarters from the DC area, eventually finding his way to scattered locations in
Wisconsin
and
Michigan
. After Koehl's death in 2014, a long-time member and officer of the New Order, Martin Kerr assumed leadership and maintains the New Order website and organization.
[11]
A former member of the original American Nazi Party,
Rocky Suhayda
, founded his own organization using the American Nazi Party name and has been active since at least 2008.
[12]
Suhayda claims Rockwell as its founder despite no direct legal or financial link between it and Rockwell's legacy organization.
[13]
The one connection between the original American Nazi Party and Rocky Suhayda's group besides ideology is that they sell reprints of Rockwell's 1960s-era magazine
The Stormtrooper
on their website
.
Headquarters
[
edit
]
The WUFENS
headquarters
was located in a residence on Williamsburg Boulevard in
Arlington
, but was moved as the ANP headquarters to a house at 928 North Randolph Street (now a hotel and office building site). Rockwell and some party members also established a "Stormtrooper Barracks" in an old mansion owned by the widow of Willis Kern
in the Dominion Hills section of Arlington at what is now the
Upton Hill Regional Park
. After Rockwell's murder, the headquarters was moved again to one side of a duplex brick and concrete storefront at 2507 North Franklin Road which featured a
swastika
prominently mounted above the front door. This site was visible from busy Wilson Boulevard. Today, the Franklin Road address is often misidentified as Rockwell's headquarters when in fact it was the successor organization's last physical address in Arlington (now a coffeehouse).
[15]
[16]
[17]
History
[
edit
]
Name change and party reform
[
edit
]
Under Rockwell, the party embraced Nazi uniforms and
iconography
.
[B]
After several years of living in impoverished conditions, Rockwell began to experience some financial success with paid speaking engagements at universities where he was invited to express his controversial views as exercises in free speech. This prompted him to end the rancorous "Phase One" party tactics and begin "Phase Two", a plan to recast the group as a legitimate political party by toning down the verbal and written attacks against non-whites, replacing the party rallying cry of "
Sieg Heil
!" with "
White Power
!", limiting public display of the swastika, and entering candidates in local elections.
The years 1965 and 1967 were possibly the height of Rockwell's profile.
He was interviewed by
Playboy
magazine, an event that stirred controversy within the ranks.
[20]
At the time Rockwell had about 500 followers.
In 1966 or 1967,
[C]
Rockwell renamed the ANP the
National Socialist White People's Party
(
NSWPP
), a move that alienated some hard-line members. The new name was a "conscious imitation" of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
. Rockwell wanted a more "ecumenical" approach and felt that the swastika banner was impeding organizational growth. Rockwell was killed on August 25, 1967, before he could implement party reforms.
Matt Koehl, a purist Neo-Nazi, succeeded Rockwell as the new leader and this ended the American Nazi Party. Thereafter, the members engaged in internecine disputes, and they were either expelled by Koehl or they resigned. After the murder of Rockwell, the party dissipated and ad hoc organizations usurped the American Nazi Party logo. Those included James Burford in Chicago and John Bishop in Iowa.
In 1962, ANP member Roy James was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $25 for punching
Martin Luther King Jr.
, after pleading guilty to charge of assault and battery and disorderly conduct. King had not wanted to press charges, but Birmingham Judge Charles H. Brown insisted on trying James, calling the incident an "uncalled for, unprovoked assault."
[21]
Murder of Rockwell
[
edit
]
An assassination attempt was made on Rockwell on June 28, 1967. As Rockwell returned from shopping, he drove into the long driveway of the "Stormtrooper Barracks" located in Arlington's Dominion Hills subdivision and found it blocked by a fallen tree and brush. Rockwell assumed that it was another prank by local teens. As a party member cleared the obstruction, two shots were fired at Rockwell from behind one of the swastika-embossed brick driveway pillars. One of the shots ricocheted off the car, right next to his head. Leaping from the car, Rockwell pursued the gunman. On June 30, Rockwell petitioned the Arlington County Circuit Court for a gun permit; no action was ever taken on his request.
[
citation needed
]
On August 25, 1967, as Rockwell left the Econowash laundromat at the Dominion Hills Shopping Center, a former follower named
John Patler
shot Rockwell from the roof of the building. Patler fired two bullets into Rockwell's car through the windshield. One missed, the other hit his chest and ruptured his heart. His car rolled backward to a stop and Rockwell staggered out of the front passenger side door of the car, stood briefly while pointing upward at the strip mall's rooftop where the shots had come from and then collapsed on the pavement. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
[22]
[23]
Koehl's succession and ideological divisions
[
edit
]
Rockwell's second in command, Deputy Commander
Matt Koehl
, a staunch
Hitlerist
, assumed the leadership role after a council agreed that he should retain command. Koehl continued some of Rockwell's restructuring of the group by dropping the use of negative verbal and written attacks against racial minorities. Koehl also began emphasizing the positive aspects of
Nazism
and the glories of a future all-white society. Koehl retained the swastika-festooned party literature and the pseudo-Nazi uniforms of the party's "Storm Troopers" which were modeled on those worn by the
Nazi Party
's
Sturmabteilung
. In 1968, Koehl moved the party to a new headquarters on 2507 North Franklin Road, clearly visible from
Arlington
's main thoroughfare, Wilson Boulevard. He also established a printing press, a "Lincoln Rockwell Book Store", and member living quarters on property nearby.
[
citation needed
]
The party began to experience ideological divisions among its followers as it entered the 1970s. In 1970, member
Frank Collin
, who was himself secretly the son of a Jewish father, broke away from the group and founded the
National Socialist Party of America
in
Chicago
, which became famous for its attempt to march through
Skokie, Illinois
, which was home to many
Holocaust
survivors. This led to the United States Supreme Court case,
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
. Other dissatisfied members of the NSWPP chose to support
William Luther Pierce
, and formed the
National Alliance
in 1974.
[
citation needed
]
Further membership erosion occurred as Koehl, drawing heavily upon the teachings of Hitlerian mystic
Savitri Devi
, began to suggest that
Nazism
was more akin to a religious movement than a political one. He espoused the belief that
Adolf Hitler
was the gift of an inscrutable divine providence who had been sent to rescue the white race from decadence and gradual extinction which had been caused by a declining birth rate and
miscegenation
. Hitler's death in 1945 was viewed as a type of
martyrdom
; a voluntary, Christ-like self-sacrifice, that looked forward to a spiritual resurrection of Nazism at a later date when the
Aryan race
would need it the most. These esoteric beliefs led to disputes with the
World Union of National Socialists
, which Rockwell had founded and whose leader,
Danish
neo-Nazi
Povl Riis-Knudsen
, had been appointed by Koehl. Undaunted, Koehl continued to recast the party as a
new religion
in formation. Public rallies were gradually phased out in favor of low-key gatherings which were held in private venues. On
Labor Day
1979, in a highly unpopular move for some members, Koehl disbanded the party's paramilitary "Storm Troopers."
[
citation needed
]
On November 3, 1979, some members of the NSWPP and a
Ku Klux Klan
group attacked a
Communist Workers' Party
protest march in
Greensboro, North Carolina
. The group of neo-Nazis and Klansmen
shot and killed five marchers
. Forty Klansmen and neo-Nazis were involved in the shootings with sixteen Klansmen and
neo-Nazis
being arrested. The six strongest cases were brought to trial first, but the two criminal trials resulted in the acquittal of the defendants by
all-white juries
. However, in a 1985 civil lawsuit, the survivors won a $350,000 judgment against the city, the Klansmen, and the neo-Nazis after they were all found guilty of violating the civil rights of the demonstrators. The shootings became known as the "
Greensboro Massacre
."
[24]
In 1982 the
Internal Revenue Service
took action to foreclose on the group's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Koehl ceased printing the organization's
White Power
newspaper, sold its Arlington, Virginia, real estate holdings, and dispersed the group's various operations to scattered locations in
Wisconsin
and
Michigan
. A secluded 88-acre (360,000 m
2
) rural property called "Nordland" was purchased in
New Berlin, Wisconsin
, to serve as living quarters and to host annual meetings and ceremonial events.
New Order
[
edit
]
The Koehl organization changed its name to New Order on January 1, 1983, on the grounds that the people in the area "are not people looking to join revolutionary organizations", saying that it was moving to an area in the Midwest which it would not reveal for security reasons.
[26]
The name change reflected the group's
Nazi mysticism
and it was still known by that name in 2010.
[27]
The organization briefly attracted the media's attention in October 1983, when it held a private meeting at
Yorktown High School
in Arlington, Virginia.
[28]
A non-uniformed gathering of members was held indoors while the police kept a crowd of counter-protesters at bay outside. This event marked the last publicized appearance of Koehl and the New Order in Arlington. From that point forward the only outward sign that the group was still operational was the annual appearance of the
swastika
and
Betsy Ross
American Revolutionary War
flags flying from the party's nondescript headquarters building on North Franklin Road every April 20 (
Hitler's birthday
).
Today the New Order operates quietly far from the public spotlight, eschewing the confrontational public rallies that were once a hallmark of its previous incarnations. It maintains a web page and a
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, post office box providing information and template material promoting Nazism. It has no members but rather "registered supporters" who pledge to mail in donations on a monthly basis. Financing is also obtained through sales of books and other merchandise under an affiliate business, NS Publications of
Wyandotte, Michigan
. The
NS Bulletin
, a newsletter, is sent to supporters on a quarterly basis. The group holds occasional ceremonial gatherings at undisclosed private locations such as an annual observance of Hitler's birthday each April 20.
New Order's Chief of Staff,
Martin Kerr
, claims that the group is no longer a white supremacist group and focuses on advocating "in favor of [white] people, not against other races or ethnicities...we consider the white people of the world to be a gigantic family of racial brothers and sisters, united by ties of common ancestry and common heritage. Being for our own family does not mean that we hate other families." The SPLC still classifies them as neo-Nazis and as a "hate group."
[29]
[30]
[31]
Namesake organizations
[
edit
]
Since the late 1960s, there have been a number of small groups that have used the name "American Nazi Party."
- Perhaps the first was led by James Warner and Allen Vincent and it consisted of members of the California branch of the NSWPP.
This group announced its existence on January 1, 1968. In 1982 James Burford formed another "American Nazi Party" from disaffected branches of the
National Socialist Party of America
.
This Chicago-based group remained in existence until at least 1994.
[34]
- A small American Nazi Party operated from
Davenport, Iowa
, led by John Robert Bishop until 1985.
[35]
- The name "American Nazi Party" has also been adopted by a group run by
Rocky J. Suhayda
, a member of Rockwell's original ANP in 1967. Although Suhayda's ANP states that Rockwell was its founder, there is no direct legal or financial link between it and Rockwell's legacy organization now called the New Order.
[
citation needed
]
Headquartered in
Westland, Michigan
, Suhayda's ANP website sells nostalgic reprints of Rockwell's 1960s-era magazine
The Stormtrooper
. 2008 Neo-Nazi presidential candidate John Taylor Bowles was a member. Suhayda holds semi-private yearly meetings at his home and a national convention in California. His followers do not wear uniforms, except for the SA, or Security Arm, and they eschew public demonstrations, frequently criticizing the rival organization the
National Socialist Movement
for "outing" its members with excessive media exposure.
[
citation needed
]
Notable former members
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Informational notes
- ^
Despite sharing ideological roots, the phrase 'American Nazi Party' should not be conflated with the
German American Bund
or
German American Federation
(
German
:
Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV
), which was an American Nazi organization established in 1936 to succeed
Friends of New Germany
(FONG), the new name being chosen to emphasize the group's American credentials after press criticism that the organization was unpatriotic.
The Bund was to consist only of
American citizens of German descent
.
[9]
Reportedly, it had about 20,000 adherents.
- ^
"The line between the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, and other white supremacists has always been blurry."
- ^
The actual date of the change in name is unclear. Kaplan reports it as being in 1966, while Goodrick-Clarke and Green and Stabler report it as occurring on January 1, 1967.
Citations
- ^
a
b
Rockwell, George Lincoln
.
From Ivory Tower to Privy Wall: On The Art of Propaganda
Archived
August 3, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
c.1966
- ^
Holley, Peter (August 6, 2016).
"Top Nazi leader: Trump will be a 'real opportunity' for white nationalists"
.
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Michigan, NSM (2016).
"A Brief History of American National Socialism"
(PDF)
.
National Socialist Movement
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on December 26, 2016
. Retrieved
March 27,
2018
.
- ^
"Nazis in Arlington: George Rockwell and the ANP"
.
Boundary Stones: WETA's Washington DC History Blog
. Retrieved
March 26,
2018
.
- ^
“The Stormtrooper Magazine [American Nazi Party publication],” Social Welfare History Image Portal, accessed June 17, 2020,
https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/show/266
.
- ^
Potok, Mark (August 29, 2001).
"The Nazi International"
.
Southern Poverty Law Center
. Retrieved
May 13,
2016
.
- ^
Van Ells, Mark D. (2007). "Americans for Hitler ? The Bund".
America in WWII
. Vol. 3. pp. 44?49
. Retrieved
May 13,
2016
.
- ^
"Death of an Arlington Nazi"
.
www.northernvirginiamag.com
. December 30, 2010
. Retrieved
March 26,
2018
.
- ^
"Longtime Neo-Nazi Matthias "Matt" Koehl Dies"
.
Southern Poverty Law Center
. Retrieved
April 24,
2022
.
- ^
"A Guide to the American Nazi Party Recruiting Materials, c. 1966 American Nazi Party Recruiting Materials Ms2015-060"
. August 12, 2016. Archived from
the original
on August 12, 2016
. Retrieved
March 26,
2018
.
- ^
Loeser Consulting.
"American Nazi Party (USA), Historical Flags of Our Ancestors ? Flags of Extremism ? Part 1 (a?m)"
.
www.loeser.us
. Retrieved
March 26,
2018
.
- ^
Fenston, Jacob (September 6, 2013).
"Arlington's Uneasy Relationship With Nazi Party Founder"
.
WAMU
. Retrieved
May 13,
2016
.
- ^
Weingarten, Gene.
"It's Just Nazi Same Place"
The Washington Post
(February 10, 2008)
- ^
Cooper, Rebecca A.
"Java Shack glimpses its past as Nazi headquarters"
Archived
August 16, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
TDB.com (March 8, 2011)
- ^
Haley, Alex
(1966).
"Playboy Interview: George Lincoln Rockwell"
.
Playboy Magazine
. Retrieved
May 12,
2016
– via
Internet archive
.
- ^
"Rockwellite Sentenced to Jail for Assaulting Negro Clergyman"
.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
. March 20, 2015
. Retrieved
October 29,
2023
.
- ^
"1967: 'American Hitler' shot dead"
.
BBC News
. August 25, 1967
. Retrieved
August 7,
2009
.
- ^
E. Miller, Michael (August 21, 2017).
"The Shadow of an Assassinated American Nazi Commander Hangs Over Charlottesville"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
August 10,
2019
.
[
dead link
]
(subscription required)
- ^
"Agent Tells of '79 Threats by Klan and Nazis"
.
The New York Times
. May 12, 1985. sec. 1, p. 26, col. 1
. Retrieved
September 27,
2007
.
- ^
"Nazi Party to Relocate"
.
The New York Times
. December 27, 1982
. Retrieved
July 26,
2022
.
- ^
"Death of an Arlington Nazi"
.
www.northernvirginiamag.com
. December 30, 2010
. Retrieved
March 27,
2018
.
- ^
"Swastikas on Wilson"
.
Arlington Magazine
. August 12, 2013
. Retrieved
March 27,
2018
.
- ^
"A look at Wisconsin's 'hate' groups"
.
www.WisconsinWatch.org
. November 12, 2017
. Retrieved
April 28,
2018
.
- ^
"Across Wisconsin, recent rises in hate, bias incidents spark concern"
. Retrieved
April 28,
2018
.
- ^
"Neo-Nazi"
.
Southern Poverty Law Center
. Retrieved
July 28,
2022
.
- ^
Anti-Defamation League
.
Danger: Extremism
, New York; Anti-Defamation League, 1996, p. 177
- ^
"Special Collections Manuscript Collections | Bishop (John Robert) papers, 1951?1977 and undated"
.
augustana.libraryhost.com
. Retrieved
March 26,
2018
.
Bibliography
- Green, Michael S.; Stabler, Scott L. (2015).
Ideas and Movements that Shaped America: From the Bill of Rights to "Occupy Wall Street" (3 vols.)
. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO
. p. 390.
ISBN
978-1610692519
. Retrieved
May 12,
2016
.
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2003).
Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity
. New York: New York University Press.
ISBN
978-0814731550
.
- Kaplan, Jeffrey, ed. (2000).
Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right
.
Walnut Creek, California
: AltaMira Press.
ISBN
978-0742503403
.
- Marks, Kathy (1996).
Faces of Right Wing Extremism
. Boston: Branden Books.
ISBN
978-0828320160
.
- Obermayer, Herman J. (2012).
American Nazi Party in Arlington, Virginia 1958?1984
. CreateSpace Publishing.
ISBN
978-1494366865
.
- Schmaltz, William H. (2013).
For Race And Nation: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party
(1st ed.). River's Bend Press.
ASIN
B00CNFX7BE
.
- Wolter, Erik V.; Masters, Robert J. (2004).
Loyalty On Trial: One American's Battle With The FBI
. New York:
iUniverse
. p. 65.
ISBN
978-0595327034
.
Further reading
External links
[
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]
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